Saints Row: The Third - 2 Years Later Review

Introduction:

I recently had what I think is an interesting idea worth exploring. That idea is to review games that have been out for some time. My reasoning behind this idea is that these are the games that are most often on sale at very good prices and some have sequels coming out soon. As either of these conditions can increase someone's awareness of a game, why not have a detailed review for them to read, instead of a one line recommendation in a forum thread?

One title that is both a common sale item in Steam Sales and has a sequel releasing soon is Saints Row: The Third. As it happens, the Humble Deep Silver Bundle is also going on right now so you can get it and its DLC for under $5 (as of the time of my writing this), potentially making this review more valuable than I originally expected, though, as always, the bundle is only available for a limited time.

Saints Row: The Third is an open world action adventure game with a great deal of ridiculousness contained within. It also has an M rating from the ESRB for strong language, violence, and sexual content, amongst other things. The screenshots in this review have not been censored and may include some of that potentially objectionable content, so if you should not be reading or seeing that kind of stuff, then you probably should also not be looking at a review for this game. Anyway, the silliness starts almost immediately with text blocks floating through space as Also Sprach Zarathustra plays. What does the text say? In part, "Since time immemorial, great leaders have risen from humble beginnings to… do shit."

To be honest, I can think of no better prelude for this game, which has you diving through an airplane, in flight, within the first half hour of gameplay. While the antics do eventually simmer down, you are left heavily armed in an open world with numerous vehicles at your disposal. Then you start playing the campaign and unlock more weapons, land vehicles, air vehicles, 'homies' to aid you, and bonuses that can make you like a god by the end of it all. As leader of the Saints gang, you do not care much about the laws in the game, and you care only a little more for the laws of physics.

Should you care about Saints Row: The Third, or let it pass you by? Time to find out.